£16 a week apprentice wage
Gary Lineker earned just £16 a week as a 16-year-old apprentice at Leicester City, with an extra £5 envelope for his mum.
Snapshot · The Louis Theroux Podcast
S8 EP1: Gary Lineker on England’s losing streak, leaving the BBC, and his frosty relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo
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Jun 8, 2026
Where this was said
Footballer Wages: From £16 a Week to £525,000
At 29:13 · chapter starts 27:55
Theroux uses Haaland as an entry point to discuss football's astronomical modern wages, noting the Manchester City striker reportedly earns £525,000 a week — £27.3 million a year, potentially doubling with sponsorships to £50 million. Lineker maps his own earnings across his career in response: £16 a week as a 16-year-old Leicester apprentice, rising to £100 a week in the first team, £400 a week when he moved to Everton, and ultimately around £325,000 a year at his Barcelona and Tottenham peak. That entire year's salary, he notes, was worth roughly four days of Haaland's weekly wage. The comparison is both funny and staggering, illustrating football's extraordinary economic transformation within a single generation. [1] — Gary Lineker "Lineker started as an apprentice at Leicester earning £16 a week, reached £325,000 a year at his Barcelona peak, and watched Haaland's repo…" 28:00
Haaland earns £525,000 per week
Erling Haaland reportedly earns £525,000 per week at Manchester City, approximately £27.3 million annually, potentially doubling with sponsorships.
From £16 a Week to the World's Best-Paid Leagues
Lineker started as an apprentice at Leicester earning £16 a week, reached £325,000 a year at his Barcelona peak, and watched Haaland's reported salary dwarf that entire year in less than four days. The pay gap between eras is almost incomprehensible.
Lineker's peak salary ~£325k/year
At his peak at Barcelona and Tottenham, Lineker earned around £325,000 a year — roughly 4 days of Haaland's current salary.
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